Synopses & Reviews
"The book is so bustling and rich-we get every old lady and barfly on the island, with their letters, diaries, secrets-that the darkness seems lit from end to end."-The New Yorker
When thirteen-year-old Maria Tambini wins a TV talent show with her beautiful singing voice, she is whisked from her Scottish island home to London and instant stardom. But the "little girl with the giant voice" loses herself in fame, and wages a private war against her own body. Can she be saved by love? Or will she be consumed by an obsessive culture, family ties, and her number one fan? A stunning novel, at once a rich portrait of an immigrant community and a tragic tale of the hidden costs of celebrity.
"O'Hagan is a writer of almost shocking tenderness. The key to his achievement here is that-as one character observes about the pleasure of books-he slows 'life down to a heartbeat.'"-Elle
Born in Glasgow, Andrew O'Hagan is the widely celebrated author of The Missing and Our Fathers, which was short-listed for the Booker Prize. He is the recipient of the 2003 E. M. Forster Award of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He lives in London.
Review
"The book is so bustling and rich...that the darkness seems lit from end to end.."(The New Yorker,The New Yorker,08/11/2003)
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"O'Hagan is a writer of almost shocking tenderness." Elle
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"The book is so bustling and rich...that the darkness seems lit from end to end." (The New Yorker, The New Yorker, Aug 11 2003 )
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"Personality lays bare the darker side of fame with astonishing empathy...Bottom Line: Shining look at stardom."(People, People, Aug 5 2003 )
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"... elegaic, sepia-toned, in Scottish cadence, adorned with memories of Italian tenors and eras gone by." Elle
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"Personality lays bare the darker side of fame with astonishing empathy...Bottom Line: Shining look at stardom."(People, People, Aug 5 2003 )
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"The book is so bustling and rich...that the darkness seems lit from end to end."
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"OHagan is a writer of almost shocking tenderness." Elle
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"[O'Hagan's] books, the products of a patient intelligence, reveal a preoccupation with the enigma that underlies media frenzy: why do some things seem to last forever while others fade away? Esquire - Esquire
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PRAISE FOR PERSONALITY
“The book is so bustling and rich . . . that the darkness seems lit from
end to end.”—THE NEW YORKER
“A remarkable and profoundly moving meditation on the joys and
sorrows of the immigrant experience, the corrosive nature of show
business, griefs burdens and the transformative nature of love.”
—SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
Synopsis
Growing up on the Scottish Isle of Bute, Maria Tambini is a young girl with dreams of escape from her Italian immigrant family. When her amazing singing voice wins her a talent show at the tender age of thirteen, she is whisked off to London and instant stardom.
But even as Maria is celebrating her greatest success, she is waging a hidden battle against her own body, and becoming in the process a living exhibit in the modern drama of celebrity. Can she be saved by love? Or will she be consumed by an obsessive celebrity culture, family lies, and by her number-one fan?
This stunning novel is a rich portrait of an immigrant community and a tragic tale of the hidden costs of celebrity.
About the Author
ANDREW O'HAGAN was born in Glasgow, Scotland. His previous novels have been awarded the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, and the E. M. Forster Award.